Ireland vs France
European Championship Qualifying
Group B
Monday
27th March 2023
Aviva Stadium
Kylian Mbappé’s eye has fallen on a young Irish striker. The French star hopes to rein in Evan Ferguson on Monday.
Mbappé sees the danger of this Irish youngster
After the Netherlands, Ireland is France’s next opponent on its way to the European Championship in Germany. National coach Didier Deschamps pointed out one of the potential dangers to his team in the video analysis; eighteen-year-old Ferguson.
“We watched a few of his actions, he is an important striker for his team,” Mbappé said during the press conference about Brighton & Hove Albion’s Irish promise, who scored his first international goal in the exhibition game against Latvia last Thursday.
A second goal for Ireland will take longer as far as the French captain is concerned. “We hope he can’t show anything on Monday. That means that we are going to win and that we have done our job. Because he’s a good player,” said Mbappe.
Irish impressed: “Rare that a team like the Orange is played so badly”
National coach Stephen Kenny of Ireland is very impressed by France. On Monday, the two teams will face each other in Dublin for the second round in Group B of the European Championship qualification.
At his press conference on Sunday, Kenny was asked how he viewed France’s match against the Dutch. “They were very good,” said the national coach. “Of course we’ve seen them play a lot, they’ve been the best team in the world for eight years, for sure. They have reached two World Cup finals in a row. They won the first, lost the second on penalties.”
Kenny also found the French very strong against the Netherlands, officially the highest placed team in Group B. “It was an impressive performance. It is very rare that a number one ranked team with world-class players, such as the Netherlands, is so broken. They were convincingly defeated. You rarely see that. It was interesting to watch,” said Kenny.
